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Introduction
Have you ever found yourself detached from God and spiritually crushed because of something you’ve done?
Have you ever committed a sin so serious that you felt like you might as well give up on trying to be a Christian?
Have you ever done something so bad privately that you were ashamed for people to know you were a Christian publicly?
Sometimes our mistakes, slip ups, back sets, SIN can bury us in low places, but the Grace of God is sufficient to restore you, no matter how low you go.
The gospel of Ezekiel is a perfect picture of redemption after rebellion.
If we will be completely honest with ourselves at some point we’ve done something that made us feel as if there was no way our relationship with God could be real.
At some point we have or will experience the disappointment of doing something that completely goes against who we say we are.
I’m not trying to get into anybody’s business, but as Children of God we need to know how to handle being in the valley.
It is not a matter of if you go to the valley, but when you get to the valley.
We all know people who quit the Church because they felt as though their past would never allow them to be a real Christian.
The Christian journey beloved, is not about perfection, but persistence.
The God I serve will pardon your imperfections in order to revive your relationship with him.
After spending the the entirety of his ministry going to the hedges and the highways prophesying to the people Ezekiel found himself in the middle of THE valley.
I want you to notice that there is something very specific about the valley.
Ezekiel doesn’t say that he found himself in a valley, he said he was in THE valley.
What’s so special about this valley that Ezekiel makes such a precise and specific reference to it?
Well, Ezekiel is obviously familiar with this location, but he doesn’t give us any kind of geographic reference.
He doesn’t call the valley by name but he’s intentional in referring to it.
I want to suggest to you that both Ezekiel and the people are familiar with this valley, because it is the place he had told them they would end up if they didn’t get back on the narrow path.
Understand that there is a difference between going through a valley and being in the valley.
At some point we’re all going to go through valley’s in life.
In this world you will have tribulation.
() There are some valleys that we must go through for our development.
We go through valleys in life for no apparent reason.
Life gets dark, we find ourselves going through it.
Everything that can go wrong, has went wrong.
The Lord brings us through those valleys to develop our faith.
There are some valleys that the Lord leads us through to allow us to teach us how to walk with him.
But the valley is the place we end up when we refuse to follow him.
There are valleys in life that we go through not because of anything we’ve done wrong, but because God is still trying to make us right.
But then there is the valley, Ezekiel’s valley.
Which is the valley of consequence for our bad behavior.
The spiritual graveyard where we lay down our faith and our religion after we’ve done something wrong.
The beauty of the valley is that God will resurrect your bones no matter what you’ve done wrong or how long you’ve been doing it.
We see the valley, but then we see that there are two types of people in the valley.
There are the bones, who in verse 11 as the house of Israel.
Then, there is the prophet.
The prophet has been sent to the valley on divine assignment to prophesy, and redeem the bones.
His position and condition in the valley is distinct from the bones.
The prophet is living and has been led there alone by the spirit.
The bones are dead and spiritless.
I want to point out something that Ezekiel observed about the bones.
Ezekiel said that they were very many.
Ezekiel, from his lonely perspective, says that the bones were many.
In other words don’t be ashamed about being in the valley, because chances are you aren’t alone.
You’re not alone in the valley, but the best news is, you don’t have to stay in the valley.
There is one who sits above the bones who is ready and willing to bring you out of the valley.
is a story about a gracious God who is able to put together broken pieces, and revive dry souls.
There are three scenes in this story of restoration.
Rebellion
Rebellion
The first scene in this restoration project actually occurs in the chapters prior to .
The question we must ask ourselves upon finding these bones in the valley is, how did they get there?
This is an important question if we are to avoid the valley ourselves.
How can we avert the path to destruction and desolation less we know the way?
It was the rebellion of the House of Israel that led them into this valley.
This valley symbolized the distance between them and their God as a result of their rebellion and resistance.
The valley was their self-imposed punishment for their selfish behavior.
What’s important for us to understand about the position and condition of these bones, is this.
Their spiritual death was brought about by their disobedience.
You’ve got to be able to see the relationship between rebellion and the valley.
The prophecy of the bones in the valley is as much about the destruction of the bones as it is the reconstruction of the bones.
On the one end is the hope of restoration, but on the other end is the warning against rebellion.
On one hand you have the power of God to revive dry bones, but in front of that you have the rebellion of men that leads to dried up bones.
Rebellion is a dangerous condition.
It is a degenerative disease.
Some of the symptoms of rebellion are stubborn hearts, and hard hearing.
There were signs that these people would end up in this valley one day.
There are always signs before we get to the valley, but if we aren’t watchful.
Just like the interstate.
There are all sorts of signs between your starting point and your destination that will let you know whether you are headed in the right direction or not.
The House of Israel showed all the signs of a rebellious child.
As a matter of fact, when God called Ezekiel into the ministry he warned him of the people’s stubbornness and hard hearing.
How did these bones end up in the valley?
Because they were rebellious and didn’t know it.
They had ears to hear but did not hear nor heed to the word of God.
They didn’t recognize the symptoms of their condition and it just kept taking them farther and farther away from where they were supposed to be.
That is why Jesus admonished his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to watch and pray.
You know, it’s sad when you can see someone you know, someone you grew up with, someone you love, headed towards destruction.
You begin to notice a drink every now and then become a drink every night.
A high every now and then becoming a high every day.
You just see all of the signs of a person headed towards a valley.
But what’s even more tragic, is when you can notice all of those signs and can’t hear the GPS telling you you’re getting off course.
Don’t spend so much time keeping up with somebody else that you end up following them to the valley.
Be watchful over your own life.
God had diagnosed the House of Israel with rebellion because he had seen the signs.
They didn’t want to hear the word and they didn’t obey his word.
Whenever you get to a point where your life isn’t lining up with the word, your headed towards the valley.
Their rebellion to God, made them a Godless people just like the nations around them.
Godlessness leads to sinfulness, and sinfulness leads to the valley.
This valley, or “the valley” as Ezekiel calls it is the very place that he had been telling them they would end up if they kept ignoring the symptoms of rebellion.
The valley is the place where we find out the small things we’ve been doing in private will cost us.
The valley is place the people around us tried to warn us about.
How did these bones end up in the valley?
The same way our bones find their way to the valley.
The valley is a familiar place.
You know about the valley, because you’ve seen other people ignore the word and what they’ve been taught land in the valley.
They valley is a familiar place because you too have at some point rebelled against God and ended up in the valley.
We all like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way.
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